Nicely done, really!Actually, though, I recently read - I think it was on Ron's blog itself - that he wasn't really inspired by Disney Land's theme ride but by some book which name I forgot. Anyone else read that blog entry?

Anyhow, the many allusions to theme parks leave no doubt that there must be some connection. But as you said yourself, that does not necessarily have something to do with the secret itself (after all, why would it be called The Secret of Monkey Island, when it's Dinky and Melee Island which are connected by the tunnels)?

@Mermaid said: Actually, though, I recently read - I think it was on Ron's blog itself - that he wasn't really inspired by Disney Land's theme ride but by some book which name I forgot. Anyone else read that blog entry?

It was "On Stranger Tides" by Tim Powers. But I think that was in addition to the Disneyland ride, not instead of. That's the beautiful thing about inspiration, it can be multi-faceted :-)

I guess it's also weird that Estevan says "Only LeChuck knows" the secret: odd that LeChuck should know that the world is an illusion if it's in Guybrush's head.

The other thing that makes me ponder, is that both LeChuck's ship and Captain Marley's ship "Elaine" were both sunk by mysterious storms whilst hunting for The Secret and for Big Whoop respectively. Coincidence?

And I often wonder why a dog shows up at the end of MI2 when you defeat LeChuck and carries his arm off.

PLUS... Ron's consulting on the new Tales of Monkey Island apparently highlighted Elaine's role in all this, and how she seems to always be 10 steps ahead of everybody and knows more than she lets on. And the straightforward "Themepark" theory doesn't really give any insight at all into her identity/significance.

Anyway, those are just some random thoughts of mine off the back of making this video!

If you haven't read it already, then this thread would be of interest to you. It points out a few more reasons to believe that Guybrush is just a kid exploring a theme-park world. This is an interesting theory, but I find it strange that Ron would've essentially revealed the secret at the end of Monkey Island 2. Why not save it until Monkey Island 3?

I would personally hate it if I were to find that the whole monkey island world, story, characters etc. were just built around a little boy's imagination. It would ruin the whole thing for me, it just wouldn't be the same. I strongly agree with Hezus's theory (or at least strongly hope that it's correct):

@Hezus said: I always interpreted the theme park ending as a voodoo trick made by LeChuck.

Either that, or the whole LeChuck's Revenge ending was just a joke or an attempt to confuse the MI fans.

@haydenwce27 said: I would personally hate it if I were to find that the whole monkey island world, story, characters etc. were just built around a little boy's imagination. It would ruin the whole thing for me, it just wouldn't be the same.

I don't think you're alone in this sentiment - I've come across quite a few people expressing the same idea. I must confess though, I slightly struggle to understand exactly people feel this way - in what way does it diminish the experience?

Since reading through all of the feedback to this video, I've actually moved on quite a long way in my own thinking. I sense that a second video is called for at some future date :-) My current view is that even if this themepark thing is at least partly true, it's only a tiny fragment of the complete "secret" - it still leaves an awful lot of unanswered questions for me.

I need to keep mulling it over, but it's been quite insightful to look into a bit more of the background of the voodoo mythology, and what they believe about the afterlife, etc.

There's also one MAJOR clue that nobody ever seems to comment on: we know that Guybrush's parents are DEAD - their skeletons are sitting in the Lost and Found. So how come they're suddenly alive again in the themepark?